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Venable ready for steady approach to pay off

Venable ready for steady approach to pay off

SAN DIEGO -- Padres right fielder Will Venable has tried different approaches at the plate in past seasons.

But this season, Venable has stuck to the same approach and found consistency at the plate. He was batting .263 entering Thursday's game against the Nationals at Petco Park.

"I've been able to take the same swing every day," Venable said. "It's not always perfect. But it's the same swing with the same thought day in and day out. It's given me a chance at the plate every day. If I'm able to be consistent in my swing and my approach, then the rest of the numbers will fall into place"

While he's found consistency on offense, Venable has struggled on defense. He has already committed a career-high five errors. He committed the last miscue Tuesday on a missed fly ball. His previous career high for errors was four in 2010. In '11, he made two errors.

"It's been a combination of some misfortune, some rushing," Venable said. "I work hard every day doing my routine. Some of these things are just things you can't help. Those are the ones that you move on from.

"There have been a couple in there where I'm just going too fast, doing too much and rushing a little bit, where those are the disappointing ones. Those are the ones where I have to go back to the work I've done and just really rely on my mechanics."